Joss Whedon has emerged slowly over the past 15 years as one of the great auteurs of geek culture, building an intense following for his work as the creator of cult television series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse and for his writing for comic books like the official Buffy the Vampire Slayer series for Dark Horse and Astonishing X-Men for Marvel Comics. 2012 is shaping up to be a breakthrough year for Whedon's career – he wrote and directed the surefire blockbuster The Avengers, co-wrote the buzzy horror/comedy The Cabin in the Woods and directed a forthcoming indie film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

Whedon's body of work is impressive and wide-ranging, covering everything from horror pastiche and superheroes to musical comedy and, well, Shakespeare. Since it's a bit daunting to approach the Whedon catalog as a noobie, we've ranked all of his major works to give a sense of his high and low points over the years. This list isn't totally exhaustive – his early script credits on movies like Speed and Alien Resurrection and television shows like Roseanne don't count, his directing work on shows like The Office and Glee are omitted, and some of his minor comics work has been disregarded. Also, it is too soon to judge the current "seasons" of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and Faith for Dark Horse comics, which are currently in progress.